Google are looking into how an image of a giant cat has appeared on Google Maps.

The feline outline was spotted in Hobson Bay in Auckland, New Zealand, but the company aren't entirely sure how it actually got there.

Google's head of communications in New Zealand, Annie Baxter, told Stuff.co.nz:

"We were aware that cats were trying to take over YouTube, but we didn't realise it was extending to Google Maps. We're looking into this."

The cat appears to be made up of a series of tracks next to the coastline, but the path doesn't actually exist, which has baffled Google.

So how did it get there?

Well here's where the tale gets even more strange... Yep, even more strange.

Reddit user 'Poik12' claims that the cat is "user added", and that he knows this because it was his friend who drew the cat on Google Maps.

But further to this, he has shared a screenshot, which appears to show his friend boasting anout his handy work to Facebook.

Screengrab of the alleged cat creator:

(The Facebook user's name has been cropped out by the uploader)

Right now you are probably thinking to yourself: "Why does the suspected perpetrator refer to the cat as a goose?"

Well, his friend explains:

"My friend was the person that did this. He started with a cat, and then added bits to it each day (like a collar, whiskers etc). He has a weird fascination with cats, but calls them geese, and refers to all cats that are not geese as kittens."

So, does the claim stand up?

Well, yes, you can edit parts of maps on Google. You can't change the location of a motorway or famous land mark, but you can add cycle tracks and small pathways.

The changes can then be user reviewed before they officially become part of Google Maps.

But if you make amendments to the map in a place where fellow users are incredibly unlikely to check, you can sneak changes through by getting friends to give positive reviews of the changes, or even by running multiple Google User accounts and giving yourself positive reviews under pseudonyms.

Also, if you add a very small amount of path at a time, with a view to eventually joining separate paths together, you can slowly get the sum of all the parts of a giant cat through the Google user review process, and carry out your evil plan.